positive Negative:Redux
by moon dogie
Summary: Rewritten and remastered! My first fanfiction reborn! And just as ridiculous as before! the kishen was defeated on the night it was awoken. however two months later the witches have begun to assemble for reasons unknown and there's treachery brewing within their ranks meanwhile Stien now looks after Crona. things seem normal..but not for long. FIM Crona X Maka
1. Father-Daughter

So this is what iv been doing for the last few months. I'm overhauling the whole thing. I'm hoping to make major improvements on the story. Ill make some notes later, please enjoy!

Prologue

(the doctor)

The music rasped lowly through the speakers, some tune from his youth, "Baker street" I think it was, that eternal sound of the saxophone reverberating in to room on and on carrying its high tune into oblivion. His delving curiosity gave him autonomy wile he worked into yet another sleepless night alone in his office. The monitor threw its icy glow on Stine's face and it was by this light he knew contentiousness. How free it was, the keys at his finger tips were all that was between him and all the knowledge that he could consume. The 'no smoking' sign over his desk laughed in his face for he knew that the itch had again come to disturb him and he would not disobey the sign. Then suddenly the one light went dark, this fallowed by a churning sound that slowly faded into silence, Stine sat up and looked around. He was a tall white haired man with a youthful face, one could assume he was the age of forty but very gracefully aged, behind his round framed glasses his lonely gray eyes seemed to see through all whom he met. The more ominous features were what turned those people away. First and most obviously was the giant screw through his head, though some would call it a bolt. One large turning head through his right temple and the threads sticking through his left. The next was the one long black mark like a line of stitches from the center of his upper forehead crossing the bridge of his nose and under his eye and vanishing somewhere behind his left ear. There were others like this around his body, surgical scars, reminders. His cloths were stitched in a similar manner, his lab coat tattered and stained at the sleeves, even his boots had stitches. He rolled back in his favorite chair (also with sevral lines of stitches) on the concrete floor making a squeaking sound as he rolled on. He stopped at the window and like an energetic child sat up on his knees and peeked through the blinds. He grabbed the string and pulled them up, then pushed the window open. The power was off for the entire block, though in the distance he could see the DWMA well lit with its Gothic spires reaching into the sky to meet the laughing moon above. A dog barked somewhere in the stillness of the night, this was the time at which reasonable people were asleep and therefor the power would more than likely not be restored in the amount of time that he needed so he would need to solve this problem on his own.

(Crona)

in the basement of laboratory another lay disturbed from rest. Crona had curled herself into a ball. She was a sheepish timid figure, by he shaking she obviously had some traumatic fear of the dark. Her light pink almost white hair could barely be seen in this darkness by the more perceptive. Her long thin awkward A-sexual frame tucked in her arms she could not bare to open her soft eyes with white pupils and black corneas. She moaned, her voice almost cracking in dispare, her breaths heavy. "please."she whispered faintly "d-don't do this, come back on." Crona had a small problem with the dark, and yea like Jay-Z before her she had at least ninety nine problems but her fear of the dark that stimmed from her traumatic childhood was the most relevant to the moment. She made the mistake of cracking her eyes open to be met with the void of darkness, it was like the air was sucked out of her lungs and she closed her eyes even tighter than before, her sporadic breathing nearly suffocating her. She took a sharp breath. "ooooh..no no no no, why did I do that?!" she moaned, her eyes fluttered in some hope that if she opened here eyes there would magically be light again. She then realized weather or not she kept her eyes open it was the same, she was equally as screwed staying balled up with her eyes closed as she would if she tried to find a source of light. She crawled up her bed to where her night stand was, it was bare save for her lamp and a picture of a blond haired girl. She tried the lamp but of coarse it didn't work. She took a deep breath and made a small jump from her bed but tripped over her own feet face planting on the concrete floor a white flash of pain bursting through her head, she cluctch her pounding head with her hands. She felt a wet streak of her blood. (her blood is black..we'll talk about that later.) fall down her face she sighed, she knew that she should have stayed put.

Stien felt around the inside of his kitchen drawer, he was sure that at one time there was a flashlight in the drawer but he hadn't seen it seance the last time the power went out, he may have even robbed the batterys out of it the last time his TV remote stopped working. "curse you Stien your lack of forsight will be your undoing!" it was full of the useless junk most people find in thier kitchen drawers, rubber bands, coins ,monopoly pieces the cover of the box set of season 3 of The Rat Patrol. He gave up, he didn't know what happened to it, the Slender Man or the Fairy fucking God Mother stole it for all he knew. He took out his cell phone and fiddled with it for a few moments and cycled through the settings putting it to the brightest setting using it as a make shift flashlight. As he started to his destination he forgot that the drawer was open, he broke it snapping the flimsy wood spilling the contents on the floor. He sighed in frustration with himself. He stepped over the mess and continued, with one last look over his shoulder he spotted it, on the ground amongst the junk was the flashlight sticking out from the inside of an oven mitten.

The hallway seemed a dark but enchanted place even in broad daylight, every time Stien walked the narrow hall of the east side of his sprawling house it only got longer, the feelings locked behind the big metal door at the bottom of the stare case kept him awake at night, the specter that lurked behind it was his only source of remorse and regret, that he could not have been a better man, a better father. "were did you kidnap the child from?" he heard his voice from that night not so long ago, he waited for his brain to recreate her reply. "Iv been waiting to tell you this." he heard Medusa's laughter "its the best part you know." "that's someones child!" he remembered the way she shook her head. "she ours genius." there was a synapses in his brain that quivered every time he remembered those words. "cant you tell? Damaged goods, just like her father." he felt himself on the edge of the abyss every time he remembered...no actually he was on the ledge of the stair case staring glassy eyed into space sort of like a toothless mountain yokal after sniffing to much gasoline, he tilted forward, he snapped awake as he felt himself fall. He let out a bark of fear as he tumbled down the stares, his flashlights hitting almost evry stare loudly on its way down after him he hit the bottom of the stares, he gripped his nose as blood gushed from his nostrals like a dule fountain of blood. He stood up "ah. Damn!" he felt of his aching bones. He leaned on the door taking breaths, he picked up his flashlight, the embarrassing part if not a little disturbing is this was not the first time he injured himself in the same way though he completely forgot what he was thinking about. He fished through his pocket for the large metal key to the door. Crona's was a complex case, lord death would let Stien keep her for whatever he intended under the circumstances that she was his respectability, that he kept a watchful eye on her but he still had not told lord death what Medusa told him nor had he told Crona, he couldn't bring himself to tell her, but she came to see him as her guardian like Maka was her savior. He was happy to let her help him with experiments and payed her an allowance until she would be payed to carry out missions for the academy. He slid the iron key into the lock, the reinforced metal door clanked loudly as the tumblers fell into place. He knew it wasn't necessary to knock since she was likely asleep. He slipped into the deserted room. Her living quarters consisted of one main room a small kitchen to the side, a bathroom and a bed room, her lifestyle seemed somewhat normal at a glance but something was wrong about the whole picture. There didn't appear to be a single mirror in her room, no cups or dirty dishes were present there was a thick layer of dust, all framed pictures were sat facing the wall save for those of a blonde hared girl in a few, she had a stack of light bulbs in the corner though she had never needed to change one. He shined the light over the black space, moving in the stillness. On the floor ten feet away was a twitching black mass. He would be ashamed that the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. The black mass twisted upward like a wicked stalagmite. A horrified cringing face locked eyes with him. The pink hared specter let out a moan. "Crona!" the air was cut by Stien's small bark of primal fear. Crona was still, her white eyes shifted up to him. She slumped over. "are you okay?" he knelt down. Crona nodded "I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else." he put his hand on her shoulder "its going to be okay. I'm going to turn on the generator, were going to get some lights on." he handed her a flashlight. "keep the light on me so I don't trip." she nodded, Stien stood and started across the room, on the far wall in the kitchen there was a hatch on the wall marked "General Electric" you see weather you need to restore electricity to your house or a motor for a M134 7.62 NATO caliber mini-gun GE has you covered. He opened the panel, cobwebs hung from the inside, he brushed them away, there was a black switch like a standard electrical breaker sticking out from the inner workings, he flipped the switch. After a moment there was a small hum from behind the wall as she machine began churning from its tank the fule which was idle for quite some time. The lights were Dim for a moment and became brighter as a few seconds passed. Crona took a sigh of relief, she turned off the flashlight and made a small smile.

Stien sat down across from Crona. She really should have been in bed she had school the next day this being at the same school Doctor Stien taught at, but more on that later. The generator wasn't strong enough to pull power to a stove so Stien hooked up his portable Bunsen burner and put it on Crona's table. He put a pot full of water with tea bags, she was amused at this, making ones tea in such a way. "Mary might start asking questions if you start coming into class so tired." Stine said with a smile her way. She smiled back but looked at the table "she understands, its going to be fine." he made a huff of laughter "yeah youll be fine." he leaned back in his chair and watched as the water started to boil. "Crona." he paused and looked up at her again, She didn't look back. "you mentioned that you thought I was someone else?" her eyes suddenly met him with a face as if she had suddenly been accused. "who did you think it was?" she didn't answer, it was only a curiosity to Stien an ignorable concern. He was ready to accept her silence as an answer as it would only hurt her more to pry. "i thought-..j-just for a minute, that you were my mother." neither of them spoke for a very long time.


	2. Getting the Story Straight

(bare with me here..)

Even in the higher elevation of the mountains outside of Death Valley California which Death City was built into, the temperature was still in the eighties as the laughing sun blazed from its high perch, but in the Death City graveyard where Franken stien claimed home the temperature was dramaticly augmented by some strange unseen force. His "soul wavelength" an energy all living things produce was so powerful in comparison to the common human that it dramaticly shifted the landscape of his domane. Spirit Albarn, stood next to his car looking up at the sprawling white laboratory through the fog so thick the smoke from his cigaret was enveloped in the unseen. Spirit in his youth was the hippie type, when he met Stien as a teenager they were both outcasts, considering Stien didn't speak a whole lot of English when they met it was a wonder they hit it off so well. Spirit had long red hair that almost reached his shoulders, with his pressed square shoulder pinstripe suit, with his tie and professional stance it was hard to believe that more than ten years ago he had his hair braided in corn rows, and owned not one but two sets of bongo drums. He and Stien hadn't talked very much in the last few years, but with some recent events that all changed. He flicked his cigaret into the gray abyss to his side and walked up to the archway over the door where multiple "no soliciting" signs hung but surely if a salesmen didn't turn when they saw the place they obviously had a death wish. He opened the door without knocking, a habit which Stien often scolded. A few months ago something happened in Death City, a disaster in its own right but it did bring crona about into Stien's life. Under the city's center, beneath the DWMA a great evil had been imprisoned by the Grim Reaper himself Lord Shinigami. Ashura the mad Kishen was imprisoned in a bag made of his own flesh, for unspeakable dark heresy and for crimes against humanity he was made an example that all would surrender to the greater good or face Death. Cut to eight hundred years later to the present day, more time to stew in ones own hate than could ever be imagined by mortal men, there came along the enemy of Lord Death. The Cult of the Grand Witch or as it is known today as the Grand Witch Coalition. The grand witch was said to be a being out of time and space, but the truth is she started as a normal witch, she just happened to be at the right place at the right time and avoid death just long enough to become the supreme leader of witches world wide, talk about luck. Speaking of luck how lucky was Ashura that the Grand witch was looking for good way to shake things up with her good oll palls at the DWMA? One night, a night that was supposed to be one of celebration in Death City the grand witch launched an attack, it was complex and well executed and above all a total kick in the nuts. At some point a group of witches estranged from the coaliton led by one Medusa Gorgan the wicked snake witch by whom many met their untimely grave, managed to fight their way to the shrine which Ashura had been imprisoned, her minions managed to awake him using a sample of "black blood" collected from none other than Medusa's own hafling daughter and reluctant scapegoat. Asura awoke unleashing a titlewave of destruction. It took many lives, blood of young miesters from the DWMA to stop him and even seven out of every ten combatants were killed. The plan fell apart but the damage was dealt, the witches involved scattered, Medusa herself was thought to have been Killed by Stien but her reappearance in the latter months proved disheartening. But among them one surrendered to the DWMA. Crona was convinced that she could be loved and cared for and that she was worth the life her mother never provided, all thanks to a young miester from the DWMA, Maka Albarn, Spirits young daughter. However stines experience was slightly less inspiring. He and spirit made it top side in time to see so many of the young miesters loos their lives, he didn't take it so well.

(any questions?)

He did everything he could to forget, short of lobotomizing himself (witch can be rather relaxing if done correctly) he wasn't okay, not for a wile but he tried. Having Crona in his life helped and spirit as well. PTSD is a common affliction in death city with so much of its population in combatant type carriers there was plenty of support from his piers. That's why spirit was here today "knock knock mother fucker!" He yelled down the hall in a light manner, there was no response, the lights were out except for a glow from the living room. He heard that Stien was in a bad way in the last couple of days and that he just sat around doing nothing, the poor fool didn't even want to research anything. Spirit told Crona and Maka to go shopping while he and Stien talked. " you ladys go have a good time and ill talk to Franky." he said with that smile that made Crona uncomfortable and made Maka want to beat him with a book until she could read the print on the side of his face. He walked down the hall with his hands in his pockets with a relaxed stance, this was a place so many feared and yet he stood unafraid of the suffocating darkness and the macabre experiments which Stien preformed (only because stien is if friend). There was a glow from the living room, he strolled over and peered into the dim room to see stien sitting on the couch watching TV. "oh no don't get up." spirit said as he rounded the couch and plopped down beside him. Stien didn't say anything. "what are we watching?" spirit asked kicking his feet up on the coffee table, Stien hated when he made himself at home immediately. He squinted at the T.V. which showed some nature documentary. "stuff about snakes, awesome." Stien was still grimdark and unmoving. He noted the dozens of pizza boxes that littered the room, he sat forward and opened the freshet looking box, it was still warm, if he was able to order pizza surely he wasn't to bad off, he would later find out Crona ordered them for him in attempt to get him to eat. "this pizza any good?" he got no answer. He picked up a slice and held it inches from Stien's face. "come on man!come on! Some greasy teenager made this pizza, you gunna let it go to waist?." he poked him in the face with the slice, a little bit of grease slathering onto his cheek. Stien was starting to become annoyed. Spirit paused seeing his first break. He tossed the slice of pizza over his shoulder, "feh..fine." he folded his hands. He sighed. "i guise I should tell you that my intentions are not to leave this house until your better, so im just guna hang here on your couch, if your fine with that just say nothing at all. Stien glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. "fair enough, maybe ill use your shower too. The water department shut off my presure and I haven't bathed in a while." they were silent for a while. "you really shouldn't have come here." Stien said with a horse voice. "your my friend, I'm not going to do something stupid like leave you alone when your like this." "no spirit you really shouldn't have, it would have been better for you." spirit sat back with an inquisitive stare. "what, are you going to cut me? You don't look like your in the mood." Stien was quite."whats wrong Stien?" spirit asked with genuine concern. "don't bother yourself with it." "but that's specificly what I came here to do. I've gotten really good a bothering myself and your a great accessory to that." Stien let out a long breath. "ah hell spirit, just...hell.." "you remember when we lived together? we were pore and couldn't afford to eat? or to buy new clothes?" they were both silent "we had to share pants Stien, because there were only three pairs between us. You can tell me anything you moron, I'm not going to think your any more strange than I know you are. Now fess up." Stien couldn't argue with his logic, he still didn't want to talk about it but it didn't look like he had a choice. He slumped back in the chair. "none of this leaves this room. Understand?" spirit without hesitation nodded. Stien tried to settle in. "i need to talk about Crona and her mother." spirit put his hand together and leaned on the arm of the couch. "your finally going to let me in on that three ring circus?" Stien looked up at the sealing. "what she said was true. I did some DNA testing and she is my daughter. But the thing is, its not that it was impossible, I just didn't want to believe it." he took his glasses off his face and cleaned the dust off of them. "I had Medusa figured out from the day I met her and iv never missed a beat. We both know that I met her seventeen years ago when she was hanging around death city. We fell in love, doctor meets witch, hook line and sinker. I knew she was a witch." spirit looked over with an unnecessary amount of surprise. "really?" Stien nodded. "i had.." he tossed his hands to the side with bafflement "no Idea that she was pregnant when she left me. But I feel.. like she did it for a reason you know?" spirit stared at him long and critically. "do I don't know Stien.." "maybe not, maybe she just..got tired of me or something." Stien shrugged. "you understand that Medusa is responsible for the deaths of at least seven people you grew up with? People you called friends?" he looked up at the sealing. "maybe the griefs driven you to stop thinking rationally." "I see her ghost." he looked over through the corners of his eyes at him. "huh?" "for a while it was just when I was alone. Now its a lot more often. Shes different when were alone." spirit felt a twinge of fear, Stien had finally lost it, and lost it very well this time. "Stien..shes not real." he put a hand on his shoulder "she's dead. Shes not haunting you, your just imagining things." but Stien didn't believe him, not for a second, not while Medusa stood right there next to him smiling. It frustrated him deeply that spirit couldn't see her. "its okay, he doesn't need to believe you. He doesn't understand you." she said softly. His face twisted with a deep madness, spirit was concerned as he watched this. "Stien..your my buddy. And if you honestly want me to believe your seeing a ghost I'm ready to believe you. If you want to feel some sort of love for her go ahead. But you cant live like this. Its not god for you and Crona is worried sick about you, everyone is. she's your responsibility now and you have to be on your game or she's just as well off in that prison cell as anywhere else. Shes depending on you. Weather or not Medusa loves you or not, or whatever the hell your talking about is up for debate but your daughter is real and its time to be with her, not dead people." "your friends an idiot." Medusa's ghostly apparition said a little less softly, Stien ignored her, his eyes were hidden by the glare across his glasses, he nodded silently to Spirit. He looked back over, Medusa was gone, at least for now.

Stien needed a moment to reset, twist his screw and clear his head. He needed to set something on fire. Next to his house in between the whitewashed privacy wall the two men stood there silently in the twilight. Stien emptied the months scrap paper into a metal trash can with a mass accumulation of yet more paper. Spirit lit a match and lit a cigaret for Stien and himself. He tossed the match into the drum creating a large luminous flame. In the moment of silence there with his friend there was a moment of clarity, of mental lucidity. Across from them he saw Medusa. She softly smiled back at him. "come and find me, you clever boy." and as the flames licked the night sky she was gone, from sight and from the air around him. For the fist time in so long he was free of her, her terrifying gaze, her loving but vicious smile and ominous black heart would no longer haunt him. "fire good..." he grunted in a primal voice. Spirit made a small laugh of satisfaction. "you know, I guise I don't blame you. that Medusa is a fox.." he put his hand to his chin thinking of the implications. "you ever wonder how hot your skin would burn in a drum fire?" Stien asked with an aggressive smile. They laughed.

Later they found themselves in the living room. Somehow the cartons of beer that Spirit had brought in the back of his car found there way to the coffee table, and twenty of said beers had gone missing, leaving two inebriated men in their mysterious absence. Why dose it smell so bad in here? Crona and Maka walked through the main hall into the living room. Maka gasped, but Crona was confused by the sight before them. The two men couldn't hold then alcohol like when the were young. They were both out, as cold as stone. The two had passed out long ago, spirit lay face down on the recliner which looked as if it would tip over at any moment, Stine was face down as well on the couch. His face well sunken into the cushions. Maka had that look of tightly coiled condescending disappointment for a moment.' _I __politely__ ask him to help the professor and they get themselves pissed instead_.' she shook her head. but she lightened as she saw Crona standing over Stien asleep on the couch. "he's better..I can tell." she said and she seemed much less apprehensive about her fathers condition than she had been before. "how can you tell?" Maka asked leaning in to inspect him. Crona used the bolt in the side of his head as leverage to turn his face to them. " see? He's smiling.." and indeed he was. A sort of rigid and formless look of glee in his drunken state. "huh.." "maaakaa?" she heard her dad slur from the other side of the room. She turned to him. She sighed and smiled at him. She walked over and leaned over to talk to him "hay dad." "did you girls have a nice time?" he asked. Maka nodded "we did. The dinner was good. Is everything okay?" spirit nodded, then he almost fell asleep but caught himself. "y-yeah..were doing good here." he said ironically (the room was in disarray) "thanks for helping him, I don't know what you did but Crona thinks it worked." it took a moment for spirit to work out what she said. "yeah..yer dads pretty cool isn't he.." he smiled like a weirdo. "don't push your luck." Crona turned to the TV. There was a gory horror movie on, the way Stien talked that was something they watched a lot of when they lived together. She cringed oddly, blood guts and viscera filled the screen as zombies ripped some poor victim apart kicking and screaming. She put her dainty hand out and turned off the TV. "I'm tired Maka. I thin I'm going to bed..." Maka turned her attention to Crona. "okay..uh..Crona Is it okay if I stay here again tonight?" Crona involuntary hesitated "y-yes. You may, absolutely stay here." she nodded rapidly. Her heart was skipping around with excitement. Whenever Maka stayed the night it was very special for her, like the president was in or something, but the relationship with her guest was much more..intimate than that..

(Note)

Some boring important structural story bits for now. Later is when the action will start, I want there to be something for everyone, and when I say everyone I mean I have every intention of writing this story in such a way that someone whos never really read soul eater can get into the story. This is going to take a lot of back tracking considering where we are linearly in the time line. Worst comes to worst and those who have not read soul eater or watched the animai will need to read a couple of installments of the manga online. I don't think ill have that problem for now but eventually friends and family will want to read this.


	3. Dread

Note: I'm going to post this now, It didn't come out quite as well as the others, and I know its been a long time but im trying to dedicate myself to the quality of the story, so their going to take a long time to produce. Hope you guys enjoy. Dan-

(the palace of the grand witch)

Eruka hummed a tune (the frogger theme) as she dug in Medusa's refrigerator for her hidden delicious foods. She was a younger witch perhaps eighteen at the most, she hadn't reached her age peek like Medusa, she had long fine straight hair, her lips were thin with peculiar black dimples on either side of her lips, she usually wore black and white dresses, most of the time with polka-dot apparel and accessorys, stockings and the like. She wore the stereotypical pointed witch hat, her own a florescent orange color. It was well after midnight, having a social life was a lot more draining than she remembered, after a day out stirring up trouble with her witch friends she was ready for a late night snack and then it was off to bed. She had to admit, with Medusa gone food supply's were getting low, she was a nasty dreadful woman at times but at least she kept a full fridge like a boss. She tried not to think those worrisome thoughts in the back of her head, that she actually missed the woman, that she wanted her sadistic mentor back. _"nope, shes out of your life, stop thinking about it, shes not __coming__ back, shes dead, dead and gone forever." _she tried to keep humming but she lost the tune, she assembled her bologna sandwich and added mustard. "hmmm cheese.." someone handed a slice of processed cheese to her over her shoulder. "oh thanks..." she started unwrapping the cheese from its translucent package. Her eyes shot open wide and turned to see Medusa's mincing silhouette in the darkness, she screamed loud enough to wake the entire palace. A hand forcefully covered her mouth. Medusa pressed herself against her up to the wall. "shhhh, shush, shut up." Medusa hissed. Her reptilian eyes narrowing, she could feel Eruka's heartbeat through her hand, smell her fear. Medusa was a woman with blond short hair, arrows were painted on her fingernails. She looked to be in her twenty's but she is actually over a hundred years old. Her features were sharp and narrow, those who lived long enogh to describe her appropriately Usually say the same thing, wicked sexy, pant shittingly terrifying and deadly as a ninety megaton nuclear bomb. Medusa removed her hand from her mouth. "helping yourself to my food? Now I see just how far your loyalty runs. Do you think bologna grows on trees? No, I have to buy it." "I- I'm sorry!." Medusa released her, a scowl carved deep into her face "you better have fed my snakes." "i did..." that was a lie, she hated feeding Medusa's pets, she hadn't gone in the reptile room sense she died. "I thought you were dead Medusa sama." Eruka finished the sandwich and offered it to Medusa whom refused it. "I'm sure you were overjoyed." Medusa narrowed her eyes at Eruka. "and so was the grand witch I'm sure." "what do you mean?" Medusa leaned against her kitchen counter. "you knew what was supposed to happen as well I did, I know your a generally distracted chilled but even you should have known things didn't happen according to plan. Now my dear Franken got a little confused and decided to murder me, but from what I hear the kishen was released, he did a good job to, killed off plenty of the swine. The grand witch was supposed to send reinforcements upon awakening of the kishen. Those, I have on good authority, didn't actually show up." Eruka seemed skeptical, but if anyone knew such a thing it was Medusa. "who told you? How did you know they didn't show up if..you were dead?" "free told me, after I tracked him down. It was easy to lure him in with my disguise." "I'm sorry Medusa sama but you have to catch me up.." Medusa waved her over to the kitchen table, she noted the thick layer of dust. She sighed "i knew I couldn't trust you to keep a house. Kids today." she shooke her head with disapointment "i tried but this castle is so dusty..it just got away from me." "im sure.." Medusa looked unconvinced. "i was dead, my body was destroyed anyway. But as you know the most powerful witches are capable of contentious thought beyond death, I was able to seal my soul away, steel the body of a snake hiding in the tunnels. I escaped while the city burned. I found a body that would work, a little girl, but I needed something stronger, I found one, she needed a little work but you can see for yourself there's nothing out of place after a few spells." Eruka nodded. "you look even better than before." she said in an attempt at flattery, it worked, Medusa smiled. "yes well, people like me are why our species still exist, if inferiors could kill us so simply we would have gone the way of the dinosaurs and movie rental shops." she turned away. "however it would seem that our dear leader is becoming less deserving of her position, she sailed us down the river. She doesn't even know I'm back, she was in bed and none of her servants wanted to wake her with the news that her second in command is still alive." she looked down at the floor where some of Crona's old robes still sat in a laundry basket. Her expression was blank. "i haven't seen her, I think shes dead." Eruka said lowly. "no, not dead." "shes not? They captured her then." Medusa turned to her. "never you mind, Crona is right where I want her." She leaned back in her seat. "she couldn't be in a better place actually.."

(The next morning, Doctor Stien's laboratory )

spirit awoke, his body was numb and he couldn't move at all, something obscured his already hazy view. There was very little light for him to see. He tried to crawl but something heavy kept him down. He strained even harder, finally he budged, he crawled toward the light until he was free. He looked around in confusion, he was in Stien's house, it was dawn, the sun was just now peeking its way through the blinds, the light was like a hot bolt of plasma right to his eyes. He sat with fingers pressed into his eye sockets grimacing at the sharp pain, finally it subsided enough that he could move. In the night the reclining chair toppled over and on top of him, odd sense he had slept so comfortably. Stien was still asleep, he was just a heap of white hair sticking out of a lab coat. Spirit stumbled to his feet, still a little drunk but massively hung over. He propped himself against the wall and meandered along the wall to the hallway. He nearly lost his footing in the hall but made it to the kitchen where he began searching for something. "uuuh the pressuuure.. my head feels like its going to explode." he found what he was looking for, a raw egg, and a pepper shaker, he couldn't find any vodka so he snatched the last unopened beer. Her pored in a tiny bit of the beer into the glass and added the raw egg and garnished the whole shibang with a dash of pepper. It was just like he remembered it, back from when he was a young man, the "prairie oyster" as it was called was the preferred method of vanquishing a hangover in Death City, nearly everyone over thirty had leaned the brew in their youth. He healed his nose and tossed it back. He slammed the cup down and gagged, he could feel last nights pizza playing Enemy At the Gates with his esophagus. "that's gunna need a chaser." in the fridge he found that off brand orange soda that only he and Stien enjoy, "orange MAX! oranges are vitamins!" it flamboyantly proclaimed on the front of the can. He shuffled back to the living room. He pulled Stien up and shoved him to the other side of the couch and sat down, he gingerly drank his beverage. After a while Stien began to rouse from sleep. "please be in my own house...pleas be in my own house.." he mumbled to himself. He opened his eyes and looked around the room and was relieved to find he hadn't decided to go on a drunken wander about the town. He rolled his head to the side and he eyes slowly slid over to spirit. "do we have to work today?" he asked with a dry hung over voice. Spirit shook his head "no its Friday." Stien closed his eyes and sighed "oh, thank god.." they sat in silence for ten minutes. Then suddenly his eyes fluttered open. "the girls came home didn't they?" spirit looked to the corner thinking back to the night before but it was all a blur. "I..think so." "well, surely they did." he pointed "unless you turned off the TV. You were out before I was.." "wasn't me." spirit shrugged. "ill go check in a minute." he said. "don't wake them up on their day off, they've been working hard lately." "ill be quiet, they wont even know I was there." Stien nodded. "alright. I'm going to make some coffee." spirit rose to his feet and walked into the hall. As Stien also stood the doorbell rang. "who could it be now.." he went to the hall and turned to the door. He looked though the peep hole and saw Sid staring back at him. Without hesitation Stien opened the door. Sid was a mountain of a man, if we're honest he looked more like a Boxer than an assassin. A veteran of operation dessert storm, Sid is a skilled knife fighter and expectational sharp shooter. Did I mention hes a zombie? Because he's zombie. Well he doesn't like that term, he prefers Undead. Before he died he was half black. After stien brought him back to life there was a purple hue to his skin, his eyes were completely white like his superbly clean and rather large chompers that could flatten an iron brick. Recently Sid was reassigned at the DWMA and has been the new physical education teacher for the "NOT" class, however he still often runs reconnaissance and the odd assassination for Lord Death when such is needed. Sid's nearly nonexistent nose twitched as Stien opened the door, his face wavered with sensory overload. "did you sleep in a brewery last night?" he asked. Stien looked at him peculiarly for a moment then remembered the night before. "oh, yeah me and spirit tied one on last night." "oh." Sid nodded "so your doing alright?" "yeah I'm alright. Whats up?" Sid put his hands behind his back, instinctively standing at parade rest, at times this made him look sort of silly. "came to see how you were. I had heard you were having a rough week and I wanted to see for myself. But I'm glad your okay." "thanks for your concern." suddenly they heard a scream from somewhere deep in Stien's house. Sid tried to look past Stien but he couldn't see past the dark hallway. "is everything okay?" Stien looked back at him. "huh? Oh, yeah I'm sure everything's alright." Sid was obviously suspicious. "your not experimenting on Spirit are you?" Stien shook his head, "no, nothing like that. Crona probably just startled him, you know spirit frightens easily" Sid hesitantly nodded. "yeah, alright..so while I got you hear I'm going to share some news. Maybe I shouldn't tell you, but I know it would be important to you." Stien gave him his full attention. "Medusa is alive." he said lowly with no shortage of asperity in his voice. stein's expression flattened. "she was spotted somewhere near Las Vegas three days ago, she stole a car. She got in a chase with police, where..." he paused to find the words in his head. "..well they said the car took off." "It what?" behind Stien, spirit walked past into the kitchen, he looked very pail, as if he had seen a ghost. "It Flew, One of the cops said that the car Began to levitate at eighty eight miles an hour and it flew away." "Holly shit." Sid nodded "indeed. If she could do something like that after returning from the dead on her own then it shows just how powerful shes become." Stien crossed his Arms and put a hand to his chin. "That is troubling." "I'm going to infiltrate the castle again, I'm going to do some snooping and see if I can cause some trouble." he said lowly.

(five minutes ago) spirit descended the staircase to the basement door, it was unlocked. He put his hand on the large handle and the tumbles clunked into place. He pushed the heavy metal door open. It was dark, only the black and white television lit his path. The room was vacant, only a bag of potato chips sat on the comfy looking couch. Things like this scared him, Particularly, Crona scared him, he tried not to think back to that night when they found her in the ruins under the DWMA. Stien was completely covered in her mothers blood, that look of horror, that utterly crushed look of inconsolable grief, it burned him. Then that demon Ragnarok, how it cursed at them and raved, then what Stien did next, the unspeakably terrifying power he showed when he ripped the beast asunder and rendered him into a sizzling pile of demonic flesh, with only one hand he ripped the demon from Crona's body like a leach off a hogs ass. He shook the memory's away, as long as he ignored them they couldn't hurt him. Where were they? He looked around for any other rooms. There was the side room, its door was normal and could be opened without a key. He had never been down there but he could gather that, that was Crona's bedroom. Without so much as a thought he strolled up to the door and opened it and looked in. He froze as the scene before him was pieced together in his brain. In an instant his blood pressure skyrocketed, his heart nearly exploded. Spirit stumbled backward baffled at what he was seeing. He screamed in horror, dear Yog Sothoth it couldn't be real. "papa!" he heard his daughters voice from the dark room "w-wait!" he turned on his heals and started quickly up the stairs, he was out of the room just before Maka stumbled out of Crona's bedroom wrapped in Crona's bed sheets, her clothes wrinkled and her hair a mess. Crona shuffled out behind her "what going on?" she was shaking. Maka turned to her with a serious look on her face. "he saw us."

(back to the present)

Stien finished talking to Sid and they parted ways. Stien walked back through the west hallway and into the kitchen where spirit sat at the table hugging his body close to himself in a similar fashion as Crona tends. His eyes and face stretched long with horror. Stien walked past him as if he didn't even notice. He began to fiddle with his coffee machine. Spirit made a sobbing noise that caught Stien's attention. "something wrong?" he turned to spirit who had large streams of tears running down his face. "m-m-maka.." Stien turned back to his coffee machine "yes. What about Maka?" "a-and c-crona." Stien violently whacked his coffee machine with a pipe wrench a few times, he made a satisfied hum as the machine beguine his brew. "hmm. What about Maka and Crona?" "Their..Their! Ghuuhuhuh!" he began sobbing like a child. "Ah yes Maka and Crona in THAT way. Yes I have become aware of this. All of my hypothesis about the two of them were correct." Spirit was completely inconsolable. Stien saw Maka staring worried into the kitchen Crona was in toe clasping Maka's hand, Stien smiled and waved at the two, they exchanged glances and went back to the basement "I just cant believe it, I thought a father was supposed to know these kinds of things." he looked at Stien with his head down with pitiful eyes. "Nonsense, I only managed to come to a conclusion threw wiled speculation. But now that I know the truth it has become easier for me to believe. Its even very likely that it would happen that way. Iv just been observing this whole time. They may have never known that I knew their secret, Oh how lovely the scientific pursuit." "Why dose this entertain you?!" spirit tried to sound tough but he failed catching another sob in his throat and he collapsed back into a pile, Stine pored two cups of coffee and set one in front of Spirit "Really that's quite enough from you now. Maka is your daughter right?" spirit looked up at Stien "yes.." Stien sipped his coffee "And you love your daughter more than anything. I know that about you Spirit" Stien took a seat and crossed his legs. Spirit nodded "then it shouldn't be so troublesome to you. However i understand your initial shock" spirit sobbed one more time rubbing his eyes "Maaakaaaa..." "And yes I did find it amusing"

(meanwhile)

Crona sat on the couch watching Maka paced about. Her dad seeing them together seemed to be causing her a lot of anxiety, but why?. "this..this isn't good at all..." she said lowly. She was starting to make Crona nervous as well. She didn't see the big deal truth be told. The night before Maka had asked her if she would like if the slept in the same bed, Crona had no reservations on doing this what so ever though she had to admit the idea sounded a bit strange at first. After they got settled in Crona couldn't complain it was nice really, having he person she cared about next to her at night, she wondered if that was something normal people did. She couldn't help but think, what if Maka's father was angry with them? Would he try an break them apart. Her heart stopped beating just thinking about that, she couldn't breath. Tears formed in her eyes. Maka looked over at her, she unclenched her fist and sat next to her. "Crona don't cry.." Crona trembled with anxiety "Maka, w-what if he tells us we cant be together? I-I like being with you, I couldn't deal with us being apart, I just couldn't." Maka put a hand on her should. "its going to be okay, its just embarrassing for all of us...he wasn't supposed to find out this way, he's just shocked is all. My dad may be a bit dim but he loves me and he knows that you mean a lot to me. even if he was mad he wouldn't try and separate us, he knows that would break my heart and he couldn't deal with that..he already did that once so hes on thin ice.." after a moment they heard a knock on the door. Maka knew who it was. "come in." she said. Her father entered the room. They were all silent for a few moments, Maka was the first to speak "I'm sorry you saw what you did." spirit's already soft expression turned to a frown. "That was my fault. I shouldn't barge in like some asshole. I'm sorry for that." Maka nodded "its okay." "I didn't know about you two, didn't know all this was going on." he said "but really there's not allot for me to be mad about." He looked over at Crona with a bit of murk "but who's idea was that anyway?" Crona fidgeted. "w-well..i-i it..uhm." Maka stood close by Crona "dad, be nice. It was my idea. Crona means a lot to me and were in a point in our relationship where I thought it might be a good idea to try it out." spirit seemed slightly enlightened. "you understand that your both young and as your father it makes me a little uncomfortable that you two are that close." he sighed "but I cant stop it can I?" he looked over at Crona again, he straightened his back. "if you were just some punk like her Soul Eater I would throttle you..but I know that your a good kid." he cleared his throat and looked the other way. "but stay out of bed with my daughter for another year or so." Maka put her hands on her hip "hay what gives you the righ-" he interrupted her "because I'm still your father." he said sternly "i love you Maka, and your growing up fast. But I don't want your ghoul friend there to be the reason you grew you to fast." Maka didn't know what to say. "if you'll excuse me I got some business with stien to take care of." Maka nodded to her father. Crona garbed Maka's hand for comfort. He looked back over his shoulder. "don't want you two to get the wrong idea. I'm supporting you, your still my daughter and I love you ,so don't let this ruin your day." he exited the room.

Stien had secretly been watching the whole time. He had a small laugh as spirit came up the stairs "look at you mr. progressive father. Took that one like a champ." spirit pushed past him with a sneer on his face. "yeah, whatever. Your daughter still gives me the creeps.


	4. Information regarding Crona Gorgan

Hay guys its Dan, I just got something saying that i hit my limit of fifty files on my document manager, it wont let me up lode any more untuill the files have been "converted"can anyone pleas tell me what this means? it really concearns me, i don't want to delete my storys...if you know what to do about this pleas PM me or write a comment. thank you!

Crona Gorgon

(synopses of the subject)

yesterday I gave her a series of tests to evaluate the subjects mental facultys, however due to her indecisive nature some results were inconclusive.

From a what I can gather Crona appears to suffer from a light residual schizophrenic disorder, this appears to effect her ability to make decisions, she often becomes distraught and withdrawn when asked to do so, however the notes I have gathered during her testing are sporadic and I foresee further testing on this. Her affliction also causes sensory abnormalitys, during times of stress she describes a dampening of motor skills, I have noted that she functions with a light speech impediment, a nervous stutter that comes and goes. At times she exhibits a loss of mental lucidity, she becomes silent and distant. In several social situations she has persistent delusion that a given social party dose not "like her" or that she is unwelcome and must be convinced that this belief is false, however while a certain level of apprehension remains, once a friendly connection is obtained she is much more comfortable with her new acquaintance and will seek them for social comfort.

Thoughts on herself are often unkind, she thinks of herself as a monster, dirty and unwanted, In the first week of her detainment she persisted in depressive acts of self harm, she was placed on suicide watch, at her worst she was physically restrained and guarded. She was given a single request, whereupon she asked for a visit from a student, Maka Albarn. They had a long talk, Maka demanded that they be left alone. The results were astounding, Crona's behavior completely turned, by the end of the visit it hardly seemed like anything was wrong from the start. After this incident I put into place that Maka Albarn would visit her daily, there was no objection and this protocall is in place to this day.

The subject has shown no violent tendency (save for self injury in the past) unless provoked. When I requested a sparing match she suffered a small breakdown, refusing to fight. Oddly, when I questioned her on her past combat experience she said that her mother had her kill more people than she could count. "Medusa was happy when I made bad people bleed." is what she said, she shortly became emotionally distraught.

in an IQ test she scored just above average. While she is shy to answer questions her retention of knowledge is remarkable.

Her MARS (mental affect resistance score) is low, she scores a one out of five, however it may increase with the soul resonance of a trusted friend.

Her soul wavelength is in a word, radical, it seems like no soul eater in recent academy records would be comparable with her, soul synchronization is feasible but requires testing.

(test 1-A)

I showed her a few ink blots on my clip board, her results were inconclusive

her answers are as fallows

#1: subject requests a pass, I allow it.

#2: subject again requests a pass, I allow this once more

#3: subject requests yet another pass, I ask her polity to answer to the best of her ability, subject becomes unwilling to participate, I end the session.

(test 2-A)

I introduced a pack of standard playing cards, I asked if she would like to play a game. She said that she didn't know how to play, I asked her if there were any card games she knew, she shook her head. I explained the rules of a very easy game of go fish. She participated but she didn't appear to have fun, she lost and then asked me if I was mad at her.

(test 3-A)

within her cell, three objects were placed on her Desk, and she was given no specific directions

one cell phone, disconnected from service

one plush teddy bear.

one dagger.

For ten minutes the subject silently observed the objects in front of her without touching them. She hesitantly reached out a picked up the dagger and held it in front of her with two fingers. She stared at her reflection for several minutes. She placed it back on the table in the exact place it had sat befor, she remained completely still until the test was concluded.

(the next day)

student Maka Albarn was invited to Crona's cell, after they had a brief conversation I request that we begin testing. Crona appears less apprehensive and over all in a better attitude, her mental state over all seemed t be improved. I swear to god I saw the chilled smile for a split second.

(test 1-B)

Crona was again introduced to the ink blots, after some coaxing from Maka the subject was willing to participate.

#1: "i don't know...a butterfly?" I inform her that there are no wrong answers. She seemed enlightened by this information.

#2: "it looks like a rain cloud"

#3: "a demon.."

#4: "a demon with a hat.." Maka passes me a glance.

#5: the subject blushes. "...i-i don't want to say what that looks like..."

I concluded testing but was unable to make any sort of substantial analysis of her answers.

(test 2-B)

I took out the stack of cards again. I asked Crona if she would like to play the same game from the day before, she hesitantly nodded. Crona seemed much more interested in participating, with cometary from Maka she seemed almost happy. She lost again, but this time just seemed happy to have played with her friend.

(Test 3-B)

I reintroduced the three items to Crona's cell, she seemed to ignore them for a time until maka mentioned them. Crona examined them again. She picked up the teddy bear this time around and clutched it in her hands. Her and maka talked until I concluded the test.

Addendum: after this test Maka scolded me for placing a weapon in crona's cell when she was alone...upon reflection I feel awful about that one myself.

Closing statement: after two months of regular testing, and visits from Maka Albarn and I, Crona has shown remarkable progress in her mental state. No signs of suicidal thoughts have been shown in weeks. The journal wich she shares with Maka and I has lightened in its mood. I have grown fond of her as she has me. Because of her stark improvement in stability I suggest that she be moved from her cell to somewhere more healthy for her mental healing.


	5. The cracks In the Wall

"why didn't you tell me you were in sooner?" the grand witch asked from her high throne. Below Medusa stood rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "I tried but your aid didn't wish to wake you." "oh yes..a sweet girl she is." the grand witch drifted off fondly. "ill have her executed at noon." the grand witch said with no lack of certainty. "see that you do my lady." Medusa nodded. It seems that the grand witch payed no urgency to Medusa's arrival and yet woke her at five in the morning to meet with her instead of letting her rest. "so now I finally get to ask you all about your little excursion to death city." Medusa stared at her blankly for a moment. The grand witch knew damn well what happened "it went as well as it could have." "Oh? But haven't you seen? The city still stands." Medusa's jaw clenched to hold her tongue. "ma'am" Medusa began calmly "we were never reinforced. We had everything in place but we were overwhelmed, the kishen fell after three hours of battle." the grand witch nodded for her to continue. "we beat the tar out of them but there were to many of them so we fell back." the grand witch seemed dissatisfied with her answer. "hmm. Well you tried.." "don't_ you __patronize__ me you dumb bitch._" Medusa's eyebrow twitched as primal images of thrusting a dagger into the old wretches neck filled her mind. "and what about your son?" "Crona? She's dead." the grand witch looked at her curiously. "dead?" "i killed her. She surrendered to the enemy and I believe she was going to cooperate with the enemy." the grand witches tone changed slightly "so you killed him?" Medusa nodded. "well.." the grand witch began "though your attack was unsuccessful I have no reason to question your loyalty or value to the coalition. I will allow you to continue living at the palace. You may go now." Medusa turned without a word "perhaps you should have raised your child better." Medusa's scowl was deep as she exited the room. _"__keep talking, you'll pay in blood for each word."_

Mifune had been waiting for an hour now. He was starting to think that maybe he had been set up and that Stien had fooled him. But he watched the man enter the parking garage with no sign of being fallowed. Mifune had backed his car into place so that he could get away at a moments notice, he knew that meistres were generally honest but he was new to death city, they might be just a little sour about all the meisters he killed in defense of Angela, but it seemed to be the last thing Stien was concerned about. Stien marched up the ramp to the parking garage and greeted Mifune with a nod. "Kenshin. Nice to finally meet you in person." Stien said with a smile. At a glance the man seemed harmless. "just Mifune, please." the swordsman politely suggested. Mifune's hair was white like stiens, but mutch longer at shoulder length. He appeared to be in his twenty's, in very high physical condition. He was your picturesque rogue samurai. Stien came forward and shook the mans hand, he had a firm confident grip. "I'm sorry I'm late, lord death took a little extra convincing in your case. But everything is going to be fine.." "and Angela?" he asked without hesitation. "Angela is not to be touched, she is sanctified, as long as she is in your care, she is your responsibility." Mifune nodded. "i understand. You risked a lot doing this for me." he paused and leaned against the hood of his Ford Pinto. "back when I worked for the yakuza, you weren't as lucky if they found out you were so much as talking to rival syndicates." "were not gangsters." Stien said "we have morals here. Though ill admit those get in the way. But your probably not concerned with that. You'll be safe here, so will Angela. The mod is nonexistent in death city, they were never here to beguine with. Although with your past id be weary of mailbombs.." Mifune was put off by that statement but Stien didn't appear to notice. "yeah well, its time I honor my end of the bargan." he walked over to the passenger side of his car and reached in through the window and grabbed a long object wrapped in a blanket. "here, this one should be suitable to her experience, it can take a lot of punishment." Stien nodded. "its heavy." he said as he took it in hand. "she'll get used to it." Mifune said. "when its time ill teach her how to use it. Stien. "thanks, it'll be a while. She still has a long way to go." Mifune nodded. They were silent for a moment, beyond their business they had not much to speak about with one another. "I should get back to Angela. I left her with a woman at the academy. She said her name was Marie? Do you know her?" Stien nodded with grief tugging at his throat "all to well swordsman, I know her all to well.." mifune saw the look in his eye. "yeah, allright, then we wont talk about it." he sat into the driver seat and turned the key in the ignition. He closed the door. "ill contact you about work from the academy as soon as I know something. Mifune nodded "dont make me come looking for you." he said with a subtle smile. "buckle your seat belt, drive safely and drink milk." Stien patted the roof of the car. "have a nice day." he walked away.

Marie reminded Crona of her mother in a way, but Marie would never do the terrible things Medusa did. If Crona had to guise she would have to think that Marie never even experimented on someone, not even once. But then Marie hardly seemed interested in the kind of things her mother got up to. Keeping track of personaltys and interests of all her new friends was tiresome, but exciting for her, but mostly terrifying. Used to things being exactly the same every day, And now she had to get used to constant change, she focused on the things that were similar at first to make things easier, Marie was blond like Medusa, but her hair was wavy. She wore an eye patch, one with some shiny golden emblem in the center, she said that she had an accident when she was a little girl but she never told Crona what it was that happened, her dress was very long and modest covering as much of her body as Crona's robe's. Crona had heard rumors that Marie could have an explosive temper and that she wasn't always in control of her emotions but she was always sweet to Crona and all of the other children in her class, though she often pulled troublesome students aside and scolding them not unlike Medusa in a way, yielding very stark results, but that never happened to her, she enjoyed Marie's study hall, it was even better that Marie didn't leave her alone, Crona was having trouble making friends so she didn't have anyone to study with, Marie helped out, asking her study questions and reading along with her. There was a young girl that Marie was also looking after a little girl who had been dropped off. The little one kept to herself, coloring at her end of the table. Marie pushed aside a stray strand of hairs from the view of her good eye. "and you remember who assassinated Franz Ferdinand?" Marie asked ,Crona nodded "uh-..that nationalist guy..Gavrilo." "that's right." Marie nodded "Gavrilo Princep. very good, your learning well. I think we found your niche Crona." she smiled pleasantly. Crona's heart felt warmed. She silently waited for Marie to ask another question. There weren't many other people she could answer these questions for. "do you remember who else was with Ferdinand?" Crona rubbed her hands together "a lady named Sophie.." "and what did she do?" Crona's soft eyes fluttered for a moment "huh?" Marie laughed a little "what was her association with Franz?" Crona fidgeted. "can I pass?" Marie nodded "its okay, she was the duchess of Hohenberg." "oh.." Crona seemed disappointed in herself. "its okay, you'll remember." she closed her eye and smiled softly "its not like you have to take a test on it after all, soon you'll be off the EAT class. Crona instantly frowned "b-but ill still get to see you right?" again Marie giggled. "of course Crona, you can come and see me every day if you would like, after class mind you." Crona was a bit shaken. "your my favorite student, so any time you feel like you need a tutor ill make time for you. I know professor Stien is a bit fast when it comes to teaching curriculum, he isn't an easy professor but he means well. He was a good replacement for professor Churchill, they both have a lot in common." Crona hadn't heard that name before. "professor Churchill?" marry seemed surprised, as if she had let something slip. "its not all that important, he was Stien's professor after he was thrown out of Berlin." Crona still had that look of cluelessness. "he's really never told you about that?" marry was aggravated by this "he just tell's me about s-stuf he did with spirit..not much else." Crona said looking down at the table. Marie's expression softened "I tell you what, ill fill you in on Franken." she had a confident smirk. "you know a lot about him?" Marie was silent for a second before answering. "yes, I know him in every sense." her answer made Crona raise a questioning glance. "lets just keep studying, shall we?" she smiled and picked her book back up.

(meanwhile)

Medusa opened the large wooden doors to her office, cold air drafted outward. The lights were all out and the smell was stale. She stepped inside and flipped the light switch, the electric lamps that had been installed in the sixty's flickered to life, illuminating the room somewhat. She looked around, some messy asshole had eaten a pack of crisp's on the couch in front of her fireplace, god help them if she found out who it was (run Eruka!) but she didn't have time fret small things like that. She came to her bar, none of her wine had been bothered, she knelt down and opened the small cabinet which the bar sat on top, the thin wood paneling in the back that concealed her secret escape route had not been disturbed. She stood up and closed the cabinet. She went over to the trunk behind her desk, a keen eye told her that the lock had been carefully moved about but was not successfully opened. The lock wasn't of ordinary make or model. It was made with a high density steel alloy, with no external key hole, picking the lock is not feasible without completely destroying it, which in of itself would by no means be task for your nine to five locksmith. This lock could only be opened properly with a spell. Medusa held it in her hand. She swiped her finger in a scantly knlown runic shape on the face of the lock. The traced pattern glowed for a moment and then released. She opened the lid of the trunk and observed the contents. Its was filled with her magic belongings, some she used for work, others of a private manner. She found her crystal ball wrapped in silk. She picked it up and took it to her desk, she sat it down and gazed at I. It was inactive for a few moments only showing her own reflection. Soon thogh a faint hazel light illuminated from its core that darkened to an inky blackness. In the glass she could see Stien, thogh there was no sound she could see him at the head of his class giving a lecture, she watched him for almost ten minutes, with a casual turn of her wrist the view through the glass flickered, she could now see Crona with Marie. She sneered. She always had a strong dislike for Marie. There was no telling what sort of rot and idealistic lies she was teaching Crona. There was a knock at Medusa's door. She grunted at the interruption. The ball became translucent as her concentration broke. "come in." she said with a cold voice, Free pushed the large door open with ease and closed it behind him. "oh your back, the grand witch must have payed quite a bit to have you come around again." Free failed to see any humor in this. She knew damn well he had no choice after she cursed his body. He wanted to keep his interactions brief with her. He was a very large muscular man, much like Sid but even taller than him, he wore the tatterd remains of a prison uniform under a cloak. Its important to note that his left eye glows like some sort of runic disco ball. "i have a message from the grand witch." he said folding his muscular arms to his chest. Medusa found nothing about his size intimidating, she knew that inside he was just a big fluffy dog. "i see see that she hasn't learned how to use the phone while I was gone. What dose she need?" "she wants you to draw from suitable candidates on staff for infiltration of the DWMA." Medusa allowed him to continue with a nod. "she also thought you may appreciate the opportunity to higher an assassin to knock off that guy who killed you." "so considerate of her." she said in a vexing tone that made his hard exterior crack with anxiety. "will that be all?" he nodded "yes, ma'am." he turned and exited quickly. She put away her crystal ball. "a spy you say. Yes..i have a perfect candidate."

(lunch time, at he DWMA)

Maka sighed when Crona sat down next to her. Crona clutched an apple in her hand and a bottle of water. Crona lowered her head. "did..did I do something wrong?" Maka tried to smile. "no.." she shook her head. "its just.." Crona sat her apple down on the table. "w-what?" "you do that every day Crona." Crona looked at her apple then at Maka. She clearly didn't understand what Maka wanted. " you've only eaten apples for lunch for as long as iv known you." Crona shrugged. "don't you think that's just a little silly?" "its all I want.." Crona stammered. Maka squinted, her smile was tried by frustration. "that's not good for you though, aren't you hungry?" Crona fidgeted "well..." Maka looked around the table, the others didn't appear to be paying any attention to their conversation, which was all the better. "well doctor Stien makes you eat breakfast and dinner right? Real portions?" Crona shook her head. Maka frowned, "well I'm going to get Sid to kick his butt later. But from no on you have to eat better..." "but..its all I want.." Crona looked at the table in front of her. Maka leaned over and spoke lowly to her. "Crona, I know why your doing this. Please, it needs to stop, you told me you wouldn't hurt yourself anymore." Crona was silent and motionless. Maka slid her tray to the space in between them on the table. Crona flinched, she looked over at Maka who smiled brightly at her. Crona looked at her with confusion. "were going to share lunch today, okay?" Crona didn't know what to say, she couldn't disobey Maka She hesitantly nodded. "okay.." "and tomorrow were going to pick out a healthy lunch for you." Maka stole Soul's fork that he wasn't using anyway and handed it to Crona. "o-okay.." Crona looked back up at Maka. "b-but why?" Maka leaned in again and spoke in a whisper. "because loving someone usually means you don't want them to starve to death." Crona blushed, she put a hand on the back of her neck and looked down at the table. "thank you Maka.."

(later that day)

Stien's class let out at four. It was hard to keep the attention of the young meisters and soul eaters much longer than that. He could tell even as he sat down at his desk while the students were leaving that something was wrong, with him in particular. All his students had left but he remained, he just sat their doing nothing, the light slowly faded from the room as the sun slowly sank. No lights, he sat alone in the darkness, part of him wished to leave, to go home to Crona and forget that he had stayed her, he knew she was probably worry'd sick about him, but movement was far beyond him. As the clock crept toward ten, a dim light grew in the hallway outside of the class room. A small figure approached and stood in the door frame holding a candle to light it's was. The child removed her hood, his breath faltered as he looked upon a face he recognized, it was no doubt Medusa. She grinned at him with those narrow vicious eyes. "what are you doing up so late?" she came closer to him, he didn't answer, his glasses gleamed. "you knew I was coming didn't you?" she stood next to his desk. "you felt it." she climbed up onto his desk and sat down in front of him. "you like my disguise? I decided I might need it, its very comfortable." she reached a hand out to his face, he didn't even flinch as she took the glasses off his face. she fiddled with his glasses, smudging the lenses. "I was in the neighborhood to drop off a friend of mine and thought id visit my man." Stien was lost to all senses, before that night not so long ago he would have jumped at the chance to kill her, but she was here, back again, he couldn't bring himself to fight her, now that he knew the truth she held more power over him than ever. "you've been enjoying Crona's company, yes? You know, you can bring her with you when you finally leave this place. You two can come live with me in the palace, we'll be like a real family, like we were meant to be. She needs a father, and well, I'm surrounded by morons in that palace." Stien didn't answer. She smiled and sat his glasses back on his face. "playing strong silent type today hmm? That's okay, I understand." she giggled and jumped down from his desk. "but you know I'm right and that's all that matters. After all, im the one who really understands you." she looked underneath his desk, she found the long object wrapped in sheets that he had acquired from Mifune. "ill be holding onto this. We wouldn't want you to hurt yourself now would we?" she started toward the door dragging the object behind her. "remember sweety, were a family.." she was gone, before he even realised it, she blinked out of existence and he was alone again in the dark room.

He couldn't remember how much longer he sat there, but he later found himself on the streets of death city, he shuffled along guided by the streetlamps, Medusa's words playing over and over in hid head. In front of him his shadow danced as he walked along, his shadow split in two, it, for a fact, was a trick of his mind, but he could hear voices from them both, one calm and collected, one crazed and senseless. "gotta' go, gotta' get away from here! These close minded fools will enslave us, their going to be the end of you, their going to be the end of me!." one demanded. "you mad, do you hear yourself right now? This is were we've always been, Medusa is lieng to you, the people here love you." he listened to them both bicker as he walked, completely indecisive as to which voice he should listen to. He bumped into a fence, and then knocked over a trash can, and walked right into a street lamp. He hit his forehead against it with substantial force. He fell backwards and stared up at the sky.

Marie was walking home alone, another night at some smoked out barroom and couldn't find one catch. Her mother was right, you'll never find true love in a bar no matter how classy of a place it is. She considered calling a cab but it wasn't worth it, she wasn't drunk and her apartment wasn't to far away. She didn't think about much, just about work the next day. Up ahead she saw someone laying on the sidewalk, for a moment she thought that it was a vagrant, she considered crossing the street, but maybe he was hurt, letting some one bleed out on the sidewalk wouldn't be good for her karma. But as she came closer she realized that she knew the bum that was under the street light. She reconsidered him as none other that professor Stien. She hurried over to him. She put her hand on his chest. "Stien? Stien wake up." she shook him. He roused without much effort. "Marie?" he opened his eyes. "yeah, its me, you're okay, aren't you?" he looked up at the sky. "i don't know.." she looked into his eyes with deep concern. She pulled him by she shoulder. "come on, sit up.." he looked faint, as if not all of him was there. "what happened to you?" "i don't know.." "you have to give me more than that Stien, do I need to take you to the hospital?" he shook his head rapidly "n-no no no..no hospital.." he tried to steady himself by grabbing her shoulder but it looked as though he was going to heave. "well don't think that I'm going to leave you here, I'm taking you home." he didn't say anything. She stood and pulled him up from under his arm "come on.." she tugged him but he wouldn't stand. "come on, or I'm calling an ambulance." he closed his eyes, and sat up on his knees, he lifted himself up with Marie's aid. Marie groaned. "we'll you sure have gotten heavier haven't you?" he mumbled something incoherently and laughed. "what kind of drugs did spirit convince you to take this time." Stien smiled weekly "those days...their long gone I promise.." he tried to match Marie's step but he stumbled. Though his head was becoming more clear he still felt his brain buzzing behind his eyeballs. He could hear the sound of static roaring like a distant ocean. He lifted a hand up to his screw and turned the head, its metallic clicking reverberated in the empty streets. "you still live in the grave yard?" Stien nodded. _"great, the graveyard at night, __that's__ just swell..i should have left him on the sidewalk.." _


End file.
